The recently released Taiwanese streaming show Women In Taipei (台北女子圖鑑) is being panned online for its stereotypical depictions of the differences between northern and southern Taiwan, with some people harassing its two screenwriters online.
Adapted from the popular Japanese TV series Tokyo Girl, which aired from 2016 to 2017, Women In Taipei debuted last month on Disney+ with an all-star cast featuring Kuei Lun-mei (桂綸鎂), Wang Po-chieh (王柏傑), Rhydian Vaughan (鳳小岳) and Chang Hsiao-chuan (張孝全).
The drama follows the life of Lin I-shan (林怡姍), played by Kuei. Lin, who was born in Tainan and moved to Taipei for work, struggles with relationships, her job and life as she strives to become the woman she aspires to be.
Photo courtesy of Disney+
The first three episodes that have been aired so far have generated heated discussions about cultural comparisons between urban and rural life, and north and south Taiwan.
Taipei is depicted as a cold and detached concrete jungle with lines such as “authentic Taipei people would not go sticking their noses into other people’s business” or “girls in Taipei are afraid of poverty, ugliness and failure.”
The differences between the north and south in the series are “untrue, hackneyed and stereotypical,” an online commentator said.
To highlight the difference between Tainan’s Yongkang District (永康), where Lin grew up, and Taipei’s Yongkang Street (永康街), where she works, the show incorrectly depicts Yongkang District as rural, showing fish farms that do not exist in the area, people said.
Some people said it was likely the screenwriters have never been to Tainan, while others said the series depicted Tainan residents as slow.
Some people have harassed the screenwriters on social media.
Award-winning screenwriter Wu Luo-ying (吳洛纓) called the behavior “cyberbullying” in a post on Facebook on Saturday, adding that people harassing the writers do not “truly understand the role and decisionmaking power of writers in the film and television industry.”
The production team and the streaming platform should face criticism from the audience as well, she said, adding that screenwriters often have to satisfy demands from executive producers to get paid.
The audience usually praises actors and directors for a hit show, but blame screenwriters for an unsatisfactory one, she said.
People familiar with the show said that some parts of the story were added by the production company, citing a scene in which Lin wears makeup for a job interview that “makes her look like she is not from Taipei” and is rejected for the job.
The negative feedback has generated a wave of memes and discussions on social media, which can be seen as a successful example of “negative marketing,” some people said.
Tu Cheng-che (杜承哲), a doctor at Cheng Ching Hospital’s thoracic surgery division, posted a meme of the show on Facebook featuring six celebrities from Tainan, including K-pop idol Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜) and supermodel Lin Chi-ling (林志玲).
“I just wanted to show that both Taipei and Tainan are good,” he wrote in the post.
Additional reporting by I Hui-tzu and CNA
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